Southern California -- this just in

LAPD sergeant charged with making threats against ex-girlfriend

March 13, 2012 | 5:14
pm

A sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department has been charged by Orange County prosecutors with making criminal threats in phone calls and texts against a former girlfriend, authorities said Tuesday.

Joshua Jinwook Chong, 41, of Fullerton, is charged with one felony count of making criminal threats, one misdemeanor count of making harassing telephone calls and one misdemeanor count of making annoying telephone calls.

The against Chong came on the same day that another LAPD officer, Jeffry Paul Quinton, 48, of Anaheim Hills, who worked security at a Laguna Beach luxury hotel, was charged in connection with a scheme to steal money and other items from the lost and found.

LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said that in addition to the criminal charges, both officers' cases are being investigated by the department's internal affairs bureau, and they could face administrative discipline.

Chong, assigned to the LAPD's Harbor Division, faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison if convicted on all counts. He is expected to plead not guilty Wednesday, when he is arraigned in a Fullerton courtroom.

Chong is accused of sending multiple text messages on Oct. 17 to a woman with whom he had a previous romantic relationship. He threatened to kill the woman's male friend. The same night, the defendant is accused of calling the woman and threatening over the phone to kill her.

The woman, whose name was not released, left her home and stayed with a friend because she feared for her life, authorities said. Prosecutors allege that Chong sent additional threatening texts, including a claim that he would show up at her work.

In all, Chong is accused of calling the woman's phone more than 25 times over a two-day period beginning Oct. 17, 2011, prosecutors said. The woman reported the threats and calls to the Fullerton Police Department on Oct. 18.

Chong was arrested the same day. He is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the case.